Miles And Miles

My running story began in March 2004 when I had reached the worst shape of my life. I had reached a point of no return and had to do something! I turned to running. Running had always been a struggle for me and it was no different this time - I couldn't even run a single mile...

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Worth the hurt - #23

Another week low on running except that I finally ran my 23rd marathon.

Wed - 6 miles: In the midst of TechReady I got in an evening run on the Bridle trails.

Sun - 26.22 miles: The San Francisco marathon. Their catchy motto is - "Worth the hurt". Got to agree. It was a tough course and I was out of shape but knowing that you're still capable of running a marathon is Worth the hurt :)

Sunday, July 22, 2012

7/22 = 29 :)

Tue - 6.15 - Still not 100% recovered. New shoes made running feel a lot better so once again I need to remember not to be stingy and suffer while runningSight of the day: Another beautiful sunset. We've been having some amazing ones in the last few days. I have to say Seattle has some of the most beautiful sunset skies I've ever seen. At this point I'd say I'm pretty well travelled!!Sat - 17 - Didn't get around to running much after Tuesday. I think this run was a bit of an overkill given that is was my first long run in a while. It was 74F and sunny for the run. My quads were hurting quite a bit once I finished... It settled down after around 30 mins...

Why this obsession with running marathons?

Big butts

Unless a pack of wolves is chasing me, or there is a sale at Dairy Queen, there's no reason for me to run anywhere, let alone do a marathon.

But I'm having trouble keeping track of all my friends who have taken up this "sport" and, despite all my protestations and my logic, it turns out we human beings are designed to run. Long distances, in fact. And for reasonably long periods of time.

Our gluteus maximus is responsible for this. In other words, as studies have found, we have big butts that do relatively little work when we're walking on flat surfaces but they come in incredibly handy to propel us during running.

According to evolutionary biologist Daniel Lieberman at Harvard University, our huge bumpers give us the balance that other bipedal animals get from tails, and they also aid in making us superior runners.

Our ability to run apparently helped in our evolution as well because while there is no way we could beat one of the other great apes in a fight we could definitely outrun them.

We also had to run to catch some of the animals we wanted to eat.

Even though many animals, like dogs and cats, run faster than us, as the distances get longer we're actually able to catch up and beat some of the fastest creatures on the planet.

Add to this the configuration of our ear canals, which give us the incredible balance needed to run on two legs, and you see why we might make ideal marathoners.

Being relatively hairless also helps. It makes it easy to get rid of excess heat.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Trying to get back to it...

Tue - 6 miles: Finally got around to getting in a run. Kind of hard getting back into the routine after such a long break in... I wish I had gotten in runs in Prague, Krakow, Budapest and Stockholm. Those would have been awesome runs but it just did not happen.

Wed - 6 miles

Thurs - 6 miles: My calf was incredibly tight at the start of my run ... Maybe I need to get new shoes. I'm sure these ones have close to 500 odd miles now.

Sight of the day: I don't know if I was delirious in the heat but in the distance I beheld what looks like an angel running towards me. A most attractive creature... Quite the sight. Thank you summer and running.

Sun - 4 miles: I've been pretty sick the last couple of days. My body finally gave in to the temperature fluctuations - 100F+ in Budapest to the 40Fs now in Seattle. I tried to get in a long run today but just did not have the ability to do it.

Sunday, July 01, 2012

Amsterdam on the run!

Tue - Approx 7 miles (1 hour)
5am, Up to Van coultard park. I'm just mesmerized at how effortlessly the locals bike to work. They wear their suits, dresses and normal clothes. I'm yet to see a fat local here.

Wed - Approx 7 (Approx 1 hour)
On a cloudy Amsterdam day, 6:30am. Run up to and by the Amstel canal past the Magere Brug

Thu - Approx 8 miles (Approx 1 hour 10 min)
Decided to run yesterday's route again. With the sun out Amsterdam looked spectacular!Fri - Approx 7 miles (Approx 1 hour)
Ran all the way to the Central station and back. Before my big presentation...

I had wanted to run in Prague as well. Between the heat and everything else it just didn't happen... Oh well :)